THORN WINS SRL BLACKJACK 121 AT THE BULLRING AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY; ASH WINS THIRD METROPCS SUPER LATE MODEL FEATURE OF 2010

LAS VEGAS - Derek Thorn of Bakersfield, Calif., started ninth and won tonight's SRL Blackjack 121 Presented By GoLivestream.TV at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The race turned out to be the Blackjack 110, but Thorn didn't seem to mind the missing 11 laps.

Twenty-nine drivers took the green flag at 9:10 p.m. with Jared Vorse on the pole, flanked by David Mayhew. Vorse led the tightly-bunched field on the first lap with Auggie Vidovich making a daring, three-wide pass into Turn 3 to go from fifth to third place. The first caution flag flew on lap 2 when Carlos Vieira, who started third, crashed in Turn 2. Derek Thorn took the lead from Jared Vorse on lap 15, just as the caution flag reappeared for M.K. Kanke's spin, which also collected Dallas Montes. Kanke, who won the 2009 edition of the Bullring's SRL Blackjack 121, restarted the race from the rear of the field, only to stop on the backstretch a handful of laps later.

On lap 50, the top three comprised of Thorn, Vorse and Ryan Foster. David Mantooth spun in Turn 2 and brought out the caution flag on lap 55.

In consideration of the high amount of caution periods - and the extra laps run due to caution flags - SRL officials decided to shorten the event to 110 laps due to fuel consumption.

Just as the decision was made, Kyle Kattanach and Ryan Foster crashed in Turn 2. On lap 85, race-long frontrunner Jared Vorse spun in Turn 2 amidst a pack of cars but managed not to collect anyone. The race restarted with Thorn in the lead, followed by Jim Pettitt II. Pettitt started 19th and had patiently worked his way to the front. Thomas Martin's stopped car in Turn 4 on lap 90 placed Pettitt squarely on Thorn's rear bumper. The race restarted and turned into a two-car, 16-lap battle.

The pace slowed once again on lap 97 when Shawn Calderwood spun in Turn 4. The race restarted with just nine laps remaining with Thorn pursued by Pettitt. David Mantooth was sent to the pit area for the duration of the event after he spun on the back chute and then pulled out directly in front of the race leaders. Thorn and Pettitt made it past unscathed but Mantooth spun again in Turn 2 on the next lap.

Thorn thwarted one more challenge from Pettitt on the final lap and held on to win the race. Jonathan Gomez finished third. Thorn, the SRL's points leader, took his victory lap at 10:13 p.m.

Dustin Ash won his third MetroPCS Super Late Model feature of the 2010 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series. Scott Gafforini finished second and Bear Rzesnowiecky took third place.

Defending Charger division champion Phil Goodwin of Henderson scored his second win of the 2010 campaign by a comfortable margin of more than three seconds. Behind Goodwin was a fierce battle for second and third place, waged by Mario Opipari, Dallas Simonette and Vinny Raucci. Opipari finished second and Raucci was third. Eight-lap Charger heat races were won by Opipari and Goodwin, both on the last half of the final lap.

Kyle Weatherman of St. Louis won the time-limit-shortened Legend Cars feature ahead of Jeremiah Wagner and Chase Catania. The Legend Cars Developmental feature was won by Michael Dejong.

The 12-lap Bandolero Bandit feature was halted on the opening lap for a rollover by Erika Thigpen in Turn 1. She was not injured. Chris Trickle won the event, followed by Christian Glass and Vincent Raucci Jr. Jacob Tilton won the Bandolero Young Guns feature ahead of Michael Morris and Danny Nicolai.

Next race: May 22 - Race Night is Date Night. Admission for ladies is $3; margaritas for ladies are $2 each. Lucas Oil Modified Series, MetroPCS Super Late Models, NASCAR Chargers, Legend Cars, Thunder Roadsters, Bandoleros, Bombers. Listen to Area 108 (KVGS-FM 107.9) to win free tickets.

All results are unofficial until Monday morning.